Jindal councils part of transition; Economic growth focus of subgroups

BATON ROUGE -- Gov.-elect Bobby Jindal continued filling his transition team Thursday, appointing more than a dozen people to unpaid jobs to advise his new administration on economic development issues.

Alexandria lumber magnate Roy Martin and Baton Rouge communications executive Jacqui Vines will be chairman and vice chairwoman of the economic growth transition advisory council, and also will head a subgroup that will focus on business retention and recruitment.

Jindal is in the process of naming nine transition councils, which will hold public hearings before making policy and personnel recommendations before his Jan. 14 inauguration.

Martin is president of the Roy O. Martin Lumber Co., and Vines is vice president and regional manager of Cox Greater Louisiana.

In addition to the business retention subgroup, Jindal's transition team announced six other focus areas under the heading of economic growth:

-- Environment group, chaired by Bob Thomas, director of the Center for Environmental Communications at Loyola University and the founding director of the Louisiana Nature Center. Tim Hardy, a Baton Rouge lawyer whose previous jobs include assistant secretary of the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, will be vice chairman.

-- Higher education, chaired by Claude Bouchard, executive director of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge. Craig Spohn, the director of the Cyber Innovation Center in Shreveport, will be vice chairman.

-- Natural resources, chaired by Ray Lasseigne of Bossier City, a petroleum engineer who is president of several oil exploration and drilling firms and chairman of the Louisiana Oil and Gas Association. Steve Jordan of Lake Charles, who heads several energy-related companies and is on the board of the Louisiana Independent Oil and Gas Association, will be vice chairman.

-- Small business and entrepreneurship, chaired by New Orleanian Kevin Langley, who is the founder and chief executive of Ellis Construction. Restaurateur Michele Ezell of Lafayette will be vice chairwoman.

-- Transportation, chaired by Livingston Parish President Mike Grimmer. Winnsboro Mayor Jack Hammons will be vice chairman.

-- Workforce, chaired by Woody Oge of New Orleans, who is the site director for Avondale Operations. Kathy Sellers Johnson, an Alexandria consultant, will be vice chairwoman.

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Jan Moller can be reached at jmoller@timespicayune.com or (225) 342-5207.